Tariff And Morals

Jos. V. Walker, of Worcester, delivered an address on "The Moral Aspect of the Tarlff" before the Massachusetts Club recentlv that has caused a tfood deal ol tiilk. lie began witli the presentatlon of "facts agreed upon by both sides," or in other words of tatisties showing thp possiblc earnlogd of a man and woman in eight occupationg in Germany, Be'gium, Frunce, England and America. These statistics were in every case from otncial report, and were not gathered In the interests of elther freetraders or.tariff nien. After reading the statistics he 9aid. A laborer's family of four persons, with two workers, can not possibly save In Germany over $11.70; in Belgium, $4; in Frunce, $")7.90 in Englsnd, $123; in América, $.V!4, in u whole year. A weavers family can save in Germany nothing; in Belgium $70.90; in France, $144; in England, $284; in America, $584. Take the highest paid workers, it shows that the savings of a family of a locomotive enrineer, in Germany, are $450,38; In Bel;ium, $438; in France, $516.40; in Englaud, $482 40; in America, $1,331; and the posible savings of capenters, MaoktmltUa, tinsmiths, etc., etc., ranirc lietween these extreme.4 in each of these conntries nmned. The frep-trader8 make two replies to siich proof of the better conditiou of the American wage workers: 1. Til ut the protective tariff has liad no iiiiInriMv in induclng our high industrial devt-lopment and high wages, and 2. Tlint it' it can proved that it hm, it followi thnt it Is at the expense of other people and is, therefore, immoral. Hiilievers in the rlghtfulneas and expediency of a protective taiiff reply that It the beat interestsof man as man, not of any one class, or of any dozen classes of men, hut all men; not only in this country, hut in all coun tries, is not benefited by our leglslatlon to secure varied occupations and HIOH RATE OF WAGES to American workmen, securing to tliein an opportunily to engage in any departiii'iii of the raechiinical mul horticultura] udiistry adapted to our soit and climate, hen we oia not justify it to tlie enlight ened conscience f tlie Uhristian world. I do not seek to commend to you for his country any narrow, seltish policy. If tliosu wlni bcliere in wliat is known is tlie proteotive principie in our reveuue uu's, can not suatain it on the vcry liighM rnuihls ot' morality and religión, theii lii'y aic ready to abandou it ut once. Show lis I rom tlie actual conditlons in my nation, actinu upnn any otlier priuiples or practices, any hlghur moral or ihyslcal resulta than Üiose wrought here md we nu nu more of tlie protective policy. We believe that the proteetionist theory nd practice lsiu liarmony wllh the uighst moral principies ever proclaimed to nan. We are sustained in our pogition by yery con9ideration acted upon by Chrisan gentlemen froin the beginoiug unül nou-. Wlien the free trader questlons our msition h potlttc&J economista we reply, Uut it is justified and supported by the practiees ot every Christian famlly and Htlon on the face of the globe. When he assails our posltion as moralts, and accuse8 U9 of selfltbly seeking the dvancement of our country at the exense of other peoples or nations, we rely that we are ncting upon those PKKCBPTS OF MORAXITY nd practice9 of religión enunclated and ved by Jesus of Nazereth and by the lost hor.est feekers after the Unknown God the world has ever known. .Ii-hm taught that the greatest service ny man cotild do the world was to tirst léanse his own life and character. To make the very most of one' self, lorally, intellectually, physlcally and in ïower, wealth and station, from high mives and leneflcent purposes, is man's rst dm y, so that in doing so, lie does ot hinder any other man in doing the ame for himself. No man can accompiish anythiug for il fellows without tirst consldering uimelf. Neither can he iiccomplish it for i i j 1 1 s i ¦ 1 r without lifting up, by simple acii mi, liis fellow mei). Then comes his family, then lii-i nelghmrhood, his town, his country; and afer, not before, the world, else there is no lace for ïillial añection, and patriotUm s nn empty name. There can be no real progress of any eple in pimply living uu animal Ufe. The progress possible to an individual r people is in the gratitication of lts astt-s and aspiration in things superior to imple food and clothing. The possible avitigs from wages to mproyed condions is the safe measure of estimable ualltie; and secondly, the possibilily of iviug is the stimulou9 and encourageíent to save nnd grow in character. Womeii in the same factories earu in Aniericu nbout two-thirds tlie wages of ten, and boys half as inuch. In Kurope women earn about twofili9 as much, and boys one-third as inch, as men. In a family ot four persons iere will average to be two workerc Our investigation8 inentioned in the tables at ttie beginning come to thig reult: that wages in the United States for man and wouiau together are very early doublé tho.-c in England, THltKE TIME8 AS MCCH 9 in France, and three and a half times 9 much as in the rest of Kurope, and that letr piirchasing power, for most thlngs ecessary to a family. are the same, aud br it8 total supplies in America is not 5 ercent. more than in Europe. What comfort s it to the worker to ell him that by adopting free trade he an get every doilar'g worth of the thlngs e now buyg in this country for 95 cent9 fter the tariff is removed, and that here lie now receives $1 lu wages he 11 then only get 50 cents. Is he so wantnr In intelligence that he will glve up 0 cents in hia day'9 wages to save 5 cents n the price of what he buys? What a laborer pays extra in America 'ir the things for hÍ9 family fora whole ear, lie can buv with hls extra wages in America (over European wages) in two week1 work. Kor the otlier fifty weeks he can save alf his wages and still furnlsh the same hings to his famlly that the whole of his v.iL'es would buy did he live In Europe. Why do men leave Europe for America f these thinjís are not substantlally true? Do not these wage-workers know about s much about tiieir own condition when bey were in Europe and now when they re In America, as these free-trade theoists know ? In this country the wlfe of a man who an8 $000 a year rarely works for wages. Tliey rtghtly determine tbat hom 1 worth more than inoney, and the edueation of their children more tliau material ttiings. Wages in all cnuntries are tlie divislons of the total producís of tliat country. Ench person in eacli country bas exactly that aliare of tlie total products of fi is country that his wages or i neo me bear8 to the total wages or income of all the people in that country. As no progress towards A HIOHRR CIVIM7.ATI0N can be made exceptlng on the surplus of WHges over absolute necesslties of animal exlstence, we may conclude that the actual and proportional conditlonof ourpeople s far above that of otlier coun tries as is their possible savings in tliis country over what tUey could be in other countiieR. How terrible is the condition of the wage-workers in most Euiopean countries. The average possible savings of wajreworkers in America are six times as mucli hs in Geruianv, five times those in Belgium, three titiles those in France, and neaily twice those in England. This does not mean that these sums are put into savings banks, houses or lands by American wajri;-workers, though a very liirge p irt of tliem are, but it meaiis that these surpluses over European pos sibilities are spent in thiiifía that elévate to a fiir hljjher ilane American mechnnics. All tlie evidence shows that the lariff Is the main cause of this superior fondltion, thared by all classes of w.ije-workers alike, for when wages raise in one group of industries they raise In all, as operatives freely pass from one iiulugtry to auothiT. The alm of the proteclionist is to keep wages at a high Standard in America, and by that means secure a more equnl división of the products of industry the world over, as it has thus far done. Free-trade writers are compelled to acknowledge that free trade is a neecssity to a nailon of slaveholder?, because slavery is not COMPATIBLE WITH INDUSTRIAL DEVKLOPMENT8, but it is necess.iry to, and the mea? ure of, intellectual progress. For English writers to insist on fre trade for tlie United State9 clearly reveáis that it is trade and not truth tliat sways the English mina. How free trnde woultl effect tlie home of each one of us may be 8een by taking Worcester for an example. By careful nttmnte I lind in the manufacture of small flrearmg that In the finest slx-barreled revolver the material costa 30 cent?, labor $3 20, and the expense (which could be counted in these estimates with labor) is $1.05, and in a firearuis factory produclng $200,000 worth of goods of various kinds per year the stock only copts $8,000, wliile Inbur and expense account is f 192,000. In a first-class shop for manufacturing machinists' tooi?, doing $200,000 business a year. the stock would be only $66,000, and the labor and expense iccount $134,000. In 100 pairs of common cheap longlegged split boots, the leather s $105, and the labor and expense $40. In each 100 pairs of ïnen's tine shoes the leather cost $122; the labor, flndings and expense account, $104. In the one city of Worcester, with only 80,000 people, the pay roll under free trade mu9t be reduced by over $4,000,000 per annutn. Thls tneans a reductlon of the power of the operatives to buy and consume manufactured goods of nearly the same suin, even at free trade prices. As no ane has yet devised any way of Increasing consumption among a people, excepting by 1NCKEASING THE WAGES PAID to that people, will 9Oine free trader ligure out how greatthe disaster would be, that would re8ult from reducing wages in thls country by even 25 percent. Were wages, trom to-niorrow morning, increased for our cheapest lionest workers, the lowest down to$1.50 a day for raen, and for women to $1 a day, and for boys and gids 07 cents a day (who board themselves), our store houscs would be emptied at once, and a period of prosperIty would be seeu such as no country ever experienced. All the energies of our mechanic9 and thinkers have heretofor been concentrated nn production. When oursklll in securing prompt consumption is equal to our eucoess in ])roduction a higher social condition wlll be realizcd than man has ever conceived, and thl8 can only be realized by increasing wages; to reduce wages is ging back toward barbarism. A dead line of wages i.t being f.ist establi8hed in America below which tliey will not be allowed to go. To increase wages, not to decrease tlirin, is for the interest of merchante, nianufacturers and wage-workeis alike. With wages so low in Kuiope this can not be done unless we keep the protective tui IV In America, as we know fromobservatlon and experience, the wage-workers with youth, health, iiulustry, frugality, fair ability, high hope and determination, niay win the ricbeat prlzes of the land. What wisc man wlll abandon this proved and certain good condition for a promises paradise, only visible to tbeori.-ts and drcamersf